The Grand Entrance III

[Jester of the FoS]

The Grand Entrance is a sprawling cavern of a room. The massive two-story high entryway is lined with dark marble and thick velvety curtains and the main double staircase arches around. The stairs start on the sidewalls and curve gently upward and angle together meeting on a large landing on the second floor. The stairs themselves are pale grey stone lined with thick red carpeting and highlighted with the polished brass railings that effortlessly catch the brilliant light of the chandelier high above your head.

Now the room is a battle zone, a room of the dead.

Formerly a single magnificent Phazarian rug dominates the floor, but it is now burnt and scorched by multiple fire incantations. The small side-tables adorned with blackened and withering greenery. Burnt bodies line the floor, a single zombie twitches from side to side, it’s limbs charred beyond use.

Several sets of doors line the room. Under the staircase is the battle-scarred Dining Hall while the other doors lead outward, stretching into the Manoir like threads of a web. To the North are the doors to the Wine Cellar and the Kitchen while, to the right, is the door leading to the restricted area of the Manoir housing the private Study, Armoury and the Fraternity’s Laboratory.

Slowly the fires set spread outward consuming the carpet and rugs and working their way up the various tapestries. The marble darkens under the flames and smoke that slowly fills up the roof with a thick choking blackness.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

OOC: Now THAT'S a Halloween party!

[Pamela]

OOC: Trick or Treat!

[Viktor Hazan]

OOC: both!

[Erik Van Rijn]

From outside the Manoir they came. Wave after wave, moving forward to the home atop the hill. Not the rats. They followed the rats. They shambled and moaned, the stench of their rotting flesh filled the air.

Every cemetery in the city had raped, graves torn asunder like ripe fruit, the contents ripped from their rest by an un-ignorable presence. It called to them and told them to march, march on the Manoir de Penombre. There they would find their master’s newest servant. And they would devour the flesh of his former brothers!

[Pamela]

OOC: see Laboratory post first

Gertrude came to a halt, coughing at all the smoke, as she found herself in the lobby once more. Up the stairs was a great orb of darkness, and all over the stairs, racing up, were swarms of rats. She shivered at the flood of them as they moved round her ankles, blindly, unthinkingly racing through flames, screeching in pain but unable it seemed to stop their lemming race up to the library.

"Wonderful- we better find Hartly before he runs into this- unless you have a spell to help deal with this? or shall we stand here to try and fight this damned army with our little bombs?" she asked Hazan.

She took a deep breath as she waited for his reply and called out as loudly as she could to those in the library, "Brothers! There's an army of zombies on its way! Coming up the driveway!"

[Viktor Hazan]

Even if the sitation is critical, Viktor can't repress a smile as he sees the face of the woman among the swarm of ordinary rats.

"Wonderful- we better find Hartly before he runs into this- unless you have a spell to help deal with this? or shall we stand here to try and fight this damned army with our little bombs?" she asked Hazan.

"Yes, tell the others. I will try to lock the front doors. It will give us a few more minutes... There are explosive runes at the windows. it will blast the first tryinbg to break them, but the next mindless in line will be able to enter..."

"But where is Van Rijn now? Has he been able to get inside the library?"

[Pamela]

Gertrude picked up her heels now and then to evade the creepy sensation of the contact with the rats, then tried to stop when she caught Viktor’s smile. Hrumph! You try to wear stockings instead of trousers, monsieur!

“Surely van Rijn couldn’t enter unawares with all our brothers there?” A thought crossed her mind, and she shuddered once more. “But the defenses are down- Hazan, what could he have wanted from the forbidden knowledge drawer?! Or has he used it, and this-“ she gestured at the approaching zombies, lurching their slow deadly path towards them, “is one of its abilities? Have you any idea as to what drew his interest most?!

“Bah! You think about it, and I’ll get Hartly!” She sped up the stairs as quickly as she could to find Hartly’s gallery, trying to ignore the rats. She waved her veiled cage like a lantern or talisman against anything which crossed her path. If you want rats, I’ll give you a rat… she thought grimly at her unseen foes.

[Viktor Hazan]

“Bah! You think about it, and I’ll get Hartly!” She sped away as quickly as she could to find Hartly’s gallery- and to get away from the rats, waving her veiled cage like a lantern or talisman against anything which crossed her path. If you want rats, I’ll give you a rat… she thought grimly at her unseen foes.

"If I knew ... ", murmured Viktor.

Now alone in the Entrance Hall, Viktor took a moment to think What necromantic could he need from us? We have nothing of real value, nothing he could not have found elsewhere. It's mostly copies of forbidden tomes we stole and then brought back before its owner knew what we did...

Oh wait.

He said it was a plan. Can he be after this device's plan? But ... no, it's silly, he would need to kill so many persons to make it work...

Viktor shudders and walk to the Manoir's front doors. He closes them and put the safety bars in place. "Good, now they need a golem to pass through these doors. If only the windows were higher ...."

[Pamela]

OOC: Small edit to my earlier post when I realised Gert has to run up the stairs to get the gallery, and not stay on the first floor...

[alhoon]

Draxton enters the entrance hall. Still invisible he whispers to Victor "Hi there. This is Draxton Serd, a true member of the Fraternity. Do you have any evocations memorized to throw to this lot that comes here? Are the doors arcane locked?"

[Tobias Blackburn]

Hartly came thundering down the stiars, knocking rats out of the way with his staff. Spoting Kingsley coming up towards him, he handed her a vial of holy water.

"What is the plan?" He asked, glancing at the door and where he knew the coming horde was.

EDIT: He saw Hazan and called down to him.

"Did Van Rijn spend time studying the Philosipher's Stone? Would there be anything in the library about it?"

[alhoon]

Draxton invisible approached Hartly. "It's Draxton Serd here. I'm a Fraternity brother still loyal to our fathers. I have a web spell prepared and a swarm summoning spell."

[Tobias Blackburn]

Draxton invisible approached Hartly. "It's Draxton Serd here. I'm a Fraternity brother still loyal to our fathers. I have a web spell prepared and a swarm summoning spell."

Hartly froze at the voice, relaxing when he realized it was an ally.

"Then prepare to use them to hold back those hordes. We'll have to deal with them before we can go after Van Rijn."

He examined the walls in front of the door, as well as the floor, examining the material they were made of.

[alhoon]

"spiders or spider web won't stop this lot! They are zombies. While the web would delay them, the flames will burn it in moments freeing the trapped undead."[/i]